Purchasing the apps you want for your smartphone or tablet computing device should be an easy few-click process, but Android (News - Alert) users, who are also AT&T customers, know this hasn’t always been the case. Fortunately, those customers can now enjoy a much more streamlined process for purchasing the apps they want.

According to this Web Pro News report, Android AT&T (News - Alert) customers used to have to pull out a credit card and type in the entire sequence of numbers each and every time they wanted to purchase an app. Customers hoped there was a better way, but no one had introduced anything better – until now. Google has finally introduced an AT&T Direct Carrier Billing option specifically for these customers.

This new billing process was explained in a post on the Android Developers Blog, which highlighted that AT&T Android users can now easily charge their Android Market purchases to their monthly accounts with just a few clicks. Users will notice a significantly easier way to discover and purchase applications of their choice. This easier method is the result of a combination of Android Market’s new app discovery features and a carrier-backed frictionless payment method.

This should be great news for those Android and AT&T customers who like to get new apps but hate the cumbersome process. By allowing these customers to simply add the purchase to the billing process already in place, customers are likely to purchase more often and enjoy greater satisfaction with the whole process. And, for those worried that the process may be too easy, Google (News - Alert) does offer a 15-minute refund window in case the customer made a purchase they didn’t mean to make.

The change in billing processes driven by Google could help start a trend as the blog did also share that the company believes carrier billing is a great way to make it easy for users to purchase and pay for applications – hoping to spur interest throughout the industry. Google plans to partner with more carriers to offer carrier billing options for their subscribers – extending this easy click to pay billing method to a full range of users.

Will all carriers move their billing options this way? If consumers do in fact purchase more apps, the answer is likely yes. After all, developers and platform providers want to drive revenue and customers simply want the apps they want without having to jump through hoops to get them. This truly is a win-win scenario and a trend could easily emerge.